Summary Of The Two Princes Of Calabar

The story that surrounds the transatlantic slave trade is notoriously known, by both young and old, across the nation. This story has not only survived, but thrived as “truth” through generations for several centuries; Although, it is much closer to a mystical tale than reality. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez lays the myths affiliated with African Diaspora to rest. Gomez shows the path of the amalgamation of the African people along with their resources into Europe. A path that leads to the New World, that would potentially become the Americas, would ultimately result in more than just the exploitation of Africans as slaves. Compacted into an eight-chapter undergrad textbook, Gomez uses Reversing Sail to unground the history, complexity, and instrumentality of the African Diaspora. He does such in a

“The Horrors of a Slave Ship,” describes in detail, the tragic experiences of Olaudah Equiano as a captive slave. Equiano suffered many sleepless nights; he was flogged and kidnapped multiple times. In the article, the author is trying to give the reader the feeling by giving details of the brutally floggings and desperation as many slaves suffocated to death as they were placed in an overcrowded deck. Overall, the author tries to give readers their point across of the difficulties in being a captive slave.

“Prince Among Slaves” is the story about an African prince named Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima who was sold into slavery. Born in 1762 on the mountain top of mount Helaya that overlooks Timbo, Africa. He grew up studying the Qur’an and entered the army at age seventeen. He soon became a leader due to his Uncles Sulimina being killed in battle. The Prince was the son of King Sori of Futa Jalon, “a man known for his ambition, boldness and

One implication as a result of the biggest known migration of human beings in history is that there is little documentation of individuals from the African Slave Trade. As such a familiar occurrence in history, there is little to be known about the individual experiences of captives during this horrific time. Randy Sparks, author of The Two Princes of Calabar, ends the silence as he provides the reader with a glimpse into an eighteenth century odyssey, and first hand account to the trading communities along the coast of West Africa. This trade not only transported people, but the exchange of ideas is also present across and around the Atlantic. The novel tells the story of two young men from Nigeria who are from an elite slave trading family. These men were captured by Europeans and sold into slavery until they were ultimately released back to their homeland. The Two Princes of Calabar offers insight into the complexities that existed in the transracial Atlantic world of the eighteenth century through the themes of privilege, gender bias, and the mistreatment of the enslaved.

He notes that, the slavery institution made them forget about their origin, and anything else that entails their past, and even when they were born. The slaves forgot everything about their families, and none knew about their family because, they were torn from them without any warning. Douglass explains how they went without food, clothing and even sleep because their masters were cruel to them. American slavery took advantage of black laborers as they were beaten mercilessly without committing any offense. They were not treated as human beings, but as property that could be manipulated in any way. The slavery institution was harsh for the Africans especially women who were regularly raped, and forced to bear their masters children and if they declined, they were maimed or killed.

To display the common treatment of slaves, Douglass develops pathos when describing his first exposure to slavery and the brutal treatment of Aunt Hester. He gives a detailed description of her “heart-rending shrieks” when she was forced to endure countless lashings and beatings (Douglass, 24). Additionally, he describes the mentality of Captain Anthony, the slave owner, by stating that “the louder [Hester] screamed, the harder he whipped” (Douglass, 23). By describing the punishments that his aunt was forced to face and the deliberateness of Captain Anthony’s actions, Douglass develops pathos, which exposes the audience to the harsh nature of slavery and makes them pity the slaves who were forced to endure this treatment. It shows the audience that slaves were forced to endure pain if they did not listen to their masters and could not

With rhetorical tact, Douglass uses his narrative to underscore the overwhelming desperation inherent to slave songs. Says Douglass, “The singing of a man cast away upon a desert island might be as appropriately considered as evidence of contentment and happiness, as the singing of a slave; the songs of the one and of the other are prompted by the same emotion.” Driven by an all-consuming

Douglass is able to paint the most horrendous and vivid picture in the mind of the reader, and just imagining the things that Douglass includes in his autobiography would make anybody want to see slavery put to an end. Another time Douglass is able to really demonstrate his abilities with harsh imagery is when he describes the slave ships. Douglass recalls the masses of dead bodies would remain shackled to the other barely living slaves on board. Douglass also writes about how the people in the harbor could smell the slave ships even before they could see them, most likely from the smell of the ships rarely emptied waste buckets. Douglass is able to paint another sad scene in the reader’s mind when describing the way slaves would choose certain death by jumping over the edge of the slave ships, just to escape the horrible treatment on the slave ships that they had to endure. Lastly, Douglass describes the food the slaves were fed on the ships, which was nothing more than rotten corn meal full of maggots and rotten scraps. Another occasion Douglass used harsh imagery was when describing the two slaves in Baltimore, which he described as emaciated and sickly. Douglass tells how the two slaves were so neglected and not taken care of that they had hair falling out of their scalps, and after reading the passage on them, the reader feels sympathetic towards them, and feels as if they know the two girls, when the reader

In Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Mr. Douglass gives many examples of cruelty towards slaves as he shows many reasons that could have been used to abolish slavery. Throughout the well-written narrative, Douglass uses examples from the severe whippings that took place constantly to a form of brainwashing by the slaveholders over the slaves describing the terrible conditions that the slaves were faced with in the south in the first half of the 1800’s. The purpose of this narrative was most likely to give others not affiliated with slaves an explicit view of what actually happened to the slaves physically, mentally, and emotionally to show the explicit importance of knowledge to the liberation

Douglass illustrates throughout his novel the dehumanizing effects that slavery has on its primary victims through the restriction of their human expression, bestowing upon them animal-like qualities, and creating an aversion to freedom. Additionally, not only were slaves transformed into brutes, their owners were transformed into cruel beasts through the application of double standards and the corruption of their innocence. However, Douglass’s work humanizes the enslaved population by demonstrating his ability to utilize meaningful and artistic prose through his usage of constructive parallel structure, tangible personification, expressive symbolism, and tactful diction.

Early American Literature reflects many conflicting differences in the presentation of slavery during that time period. Through the two chosen texts, the reader is presented with two different perspectives of slavery; Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides a look at a slave’s life through the eyes if a slave while Benito Cereno showcases the tale of a slave uprising from the viewpoint of the slave owner.. Benito Cereno’s work shows the stereotypical attitude towards African-American slaves and the immorality of that outlook according to Douglass’s narrative. Cereno portrays the typical white slave owner of his time, while Douglass’ narrative shows the thoughts of the slaves. The two stories together show that white Americans are oblivious to the ramifications and overall effects of slavery. These texts assist a moralistic purpose in trying to open up America’s eyes to the true nature of slavery by revealing it’s inhumanity and depicting the cruelty that was allowed.

Superficially, The History of Mary Prince documents slavery in the West Indies, adding richly to historical memory of the time period through its firsthand account. At the time of its publication, the genre of the slave narrative was just appearing. The History of Mary Prince, along with other formative texts, shape an important bank of evidence and allow current historians to remember and study slavery in the West Indies with a shred of credibility. Without these texts, the unimaginable pain endured by those brought into the Atlantic slave

Equiano described the cruelty of the crew who kept watch of the Africans. If an African refused to eat, they received an hour of whipping or, even if one preferred death to being a slave, they were brutally punished. Equiano even witnessed the crew hurting one another, to the point where some died and had to be thrown overboard into the sea. A few of the Africans could no longer handle the mistreatment of being a slave and jumped overboard in attempt of suicide. Some succeeded, but those who did not succeed were lifted back on board and beaten unmercifully. At some point, most of the Africans were placed in the basement of the ship and had to endure one another’s stench. There was lack of health assistance and they were not allowed to properly excuse themselves to use the restroom. Because there was lack of fresh air and they had to stay in the basement for days at a time, many of the Africans got sick (Equiano 58). Equiano pondered why the white men treated their slaves so poorly, because slaves in Africa were never treated so inhumane.

What the average person does not know about slavery is all of the inhumane behavior that was tolerated. To describe these acts as cruel would be an understatement, Douglass does not hold back on the tragedies he witnessed and he does not hold back on sharing them with the world. For so many years slave owners comforted themselves in the thought of the romantic image of slavery, claiming it was God’s will to let these people suffer, claiming that it was not an extreme environment. The only

A “Prince Among Slaves” documents the life of an African prince that was enslaved for more than 40 years. Abdul Rahman suffered practically his whole life. He was torn away from his family and the place he called home. He was shipped to the United States to work long hours each day along with many other slaves. No one cared about the fact that he was considered royalty in Africa. He managed to escape, ran into the woods without even knowing where he was going. He was determined to go back to his family in Africa. He soon realized he was no longer a prince, he was just like the others a “slave”. He tried to find identity in himself, so did the others. Find out who you are and where you come from.